14212/Roll a d20 to Save vs Demons

Roll a d20 to Save vs Demons
Date of Scene:	15 March 2023
Location:	Central Park
Synopsis:	Many rolls were made in Central Park by Michael Hannigan, Agent Sybil Tan, Red Sonja, and Agent Sara Pezzini with the Witchblade. Several demons were destroyed, but one managed to escape... for now.
Cast of Characters:	Sara Pezzini, Mary Jane Watson, Sybil Tan, Michael Hannigan

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Sara Pezzini has posed:
Among practitioners of magic it is a known fact that sometimes when people work with magic, they get lucky and do it the correct way. Then there are other times the magic completely fails with no known reason as to why, and finally there are those very rare times the magic happens in way no one expects, and that's when accidents occur.

For all intents and purposes Central Park in New York City looked like it always did in the night. Street lights offered illumination along the paths, beautiful trees and foliage starting to look like they just might be ready for spring, and of course there was the screaming of people attempting to get away from what looked like platemail clad warriors with flaming swords, leather armored people with bows with arrows, and even a few in robes who appeared to be throwing fire at innocent citizens of New York.

Then there were... the other things.

One with tendrils where a mouth should be on an elongated, alien face. Four fingered clawed hands and grey skin while long black wearing robes over their almost humanoid looking bodies. Another a giant floating eyeball with pink fleshy body and a long wide mouth of narrow razor sharp teeth and ten tendrils, each with an eye on the end of it. The last fiend looked as if it were a panther but it had multiple legs to carry it's large, slender frame, and thin whispy tail and from the shoulders two extremely long, thing appendages that ended in flat, teethy pads. These things seemed to take great joy in chasing after the people attempting to get away.

A shimmering iridescent bubble was visible from above the carnage, and nearly half mile around it. The people inside the bubble all looked to have had their clothing changed, instead of jeans, t-shirts and suits, they were in medieval dresses, corsets, tunics and trousers. Those who attempted to run out of the bubble were bounced back off it like it was some sort of trampoline, but those who went through it from the outside were able to pass without issue, their appearances altering to match those already on the inside.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
And this has had Mary Jane's attention. She's been curious. Not sure why. As she sees people running back an dforth, going out or in and all about. There's something in the pit of her stomach. Magic. Magic.. She can't sense it herself, but Sonja can see the signs of it.

And where there is magic the likes of which changes things to an age of past.. There is one damned name that runs in her mind. Where there are monsters from ages past and fantasy.

Mary Jane strides over through the bubble, and where Mary Jane was.. Her body changes. Attire falling off, seeming to vanish over. Heavy shoes become boots. T-shirt and jeans turn into a chainmail bikini. Over on her back is a large Hyborean forged basterd sword. Red Sonja is here.

"GATH!" She cries out in the language of bile and hate that anyone that had survived that wretched era would recall. "COME AND FACE ME!" And then hse's charging. Blade held out. Normally Mary Jane has a modicum of control over the pair and guides her. But where Sonja so much as -suspects- her ancient nemesis is at work?

There is no chance.

Sybil Tan has posed:
    Sybil was kind of loitering above NYC this evening. Her office at the Triskelion had been blown up recently, so she was waiting for copies of all the reports and other paperwork to be sent to her again so she could start filling them out again.

    In triplicate.

    And so, she took to the air and headed out over the city, thinking she'd have a nice quiet interlude. Unfortunately, this was not to be. With a sudden twinge, her senses warned her of an interdimensional rift suddenly opening a bit off to her left. She's already banking in that direction when the warning from SHIELD's rift sensors sounds the alarm over her comm system.

    A quick glance to a spot on her HUD opens a channel so that she can report <<Agen Tan, I'm in the area of the rift and going in to check on it.>>

    As she crosses the boundary into the park, sensors built into the Kestral armor detect a number of people running and screaming. The computer displays the location they are running from, and the flames from her boosters light the park up as she flies overhead. Arriving over the problem site, she notes the three creatures who should not be here and has the armor designate them Targets 1, 2 and 3, getting a lock on each one.

Michael Hannigan has posed:
When it comes to avoiding weird shit like this, there are a few things working against Mike this evening. First and foremost is that he lives in the Midtown area, not too far from Central Park. So if he he HAD been home and were to look out of his window, there'd be no ignoring this.

Being that he was actually out, there was still a chance he could avoided this, except his period of being 'out' consisted of a lot of running around town trying to put out industry political fires lit by the previous person who had been squatting in his body. A few of the locations led to the paths in Central Park being the prime means of traversing. AND EVEN IF THAT WASN'T ENOUGH-

He's still a Phantasm.

There's just no avoiding trouble for some it seems. Starring to the mass of people seemingly trapped within a bubble from a quasi safe distance the musician can't help but to think of the trouble Faust inflicted on Latveria. And the other incident involving LARPers in the park. "I swear if there's another spellbook being used as a prop..."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Sara hadn't intended to be doing anything tonight. She had planned to go home to Brooklyn, eat something and go to bed but instead she had found herself walking the streets of New York City in deep thought. Eventually she reached the edges of Central Park, and continued in to wander along the paths.

When the screaming started and the bubble appeared she was only about two hundred yards from outer most edges. She started running toward the shimmering, not expecting Witchblade to instantly rip through her clothing to form the armor around her body. The usual metal bikini with magnificent metal wings on her back came into existence around her just as she stepped through the barrier.

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Only seconds after each hero enters the bubble, a shimmering of magic seems to remain hugging their forms. For those who identify as female, their clothing changes from what they were wearing, to pure platemail bikinis, complete with a cape hanging down their back to the backs of their knees and a sword strapped in place at the hip. For those who identify as male, their clothing changes to full body platemail armor, including a helmet with visor that is down and limits their vision and they too have a sword on their hip. This change looks and feels real to every sense. What makes it all the more strange is that electronic devices, such as the HUD Sybil uses, continue to work even if they are no longer visibly there.

Now inside the bubble, a small medieval village of buildings can be see, with people running around inside and out of them. Houses, a tavern, town hall, even an area of market stalls. The armor clad warriors were content for the time being to go after the people running into and around the buildings, swords swinging and arrows flying. It seemed however, that nine times out of ten they missed their targets, even though they were literally right on top of them.

The appearance of the heroes doesn't seem to change the actions of the warriors, rangers, and wizards, at least not yet... but the creatures... they take notice. How could they not, what with Sonja bellowing out the name of her nemsis.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Red Sonja ignores the others coming in that would be heroes. Or villains. All she cares for now is the monsters that could be of Kulan's work. If they mean that he's here, or his cult is here.. "Come monsters! It's a good day for you to die!" Sonja's faced these types of fiends and freaks before. Her sword might not be magical.. And her own magic might be uncertain in this day and age, in this body and era..

But the name of the game was insert pointy end into fleshy bit, hack and gore. That resolved most issues. And what that didn't resolve.. Well, fire helped an awful lot too. Everyone but said monsters is ignored. Whehter or not they may have at one point been people who are now cursed.

Sonja is just in a frenzy as she's charging towards the nearest thing made out of tentacles and eyestalks with her pure focus being on trying to slash her sword through the giant eye of one if she can!

Sybil Tan has posed:
    Flying while in a platemail bikini is a new experence for Sybil, she's far more comfortable in her actual armor. Since things are currently still working she activates her cannon. In the paradigm they are currently stuck in, instead of her left gauntlet reshaping into a sleek high tech weapon, a wrist crossbow fades into existence on her wrist. Since she wants to be sure it will work before engaging the targets, she fires it ahead of herself. A glowing portal opens up for a moment, then fades as she banks left and heads for the enemies.

    As she locks her talons into attack configuration, a pair of boot blades spring out of her medieval style footwear. First priority, get the civilians out of danger. Tonight that's easier said than done since they are all trapped in the dome. So neutralizing the attackers will be the name of the game.

    She swoops down towards the nearest group attacking the people of New York and fires, the bolt hitting one of the spellcasters and forming a portal that swallows him. She then lines up another and tumbles in midair, so that she's coming in legs first. At the last moment the blades retract and she instead just kicks him through the portal as well, then lets it close.

    Two down, quite a few remaining.

Michael Hannigan has posed:
Unlike Red Sonja, Mike is not too quick to go running in as he looks to what's going on. As someone within discovers the bubble like a bird discovering a freshly windexed window. He sighs.

From what he can observe, the group of similarly dressed people, most likely LARPers. Being that they are attacking the newcomer civillians, well that's a problem. And as for the three MONSTER monster types. Well-

He's never played these games before.

Watching Pez run past to enter into the bubble, he blinks.

Damn it. Did they even LOOK before leaping in? Well, no matter. Shaking his head, Mike runs in as well, attire taking upon the appearance of the default male attire. Great. Team uniforms.

But at least he gets to have pants and it's now a lot easier to distinguish the problem actors.

Probably better to focus on those. The markings upon the uniform flip as the long haired man strides forward, fading from view.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
For a quick moment Sara has to look around and attempt to figure out what the hell is happening. She wasn't expecting this much magic, enough to alter the area into medieval Britain or where ever it was copying. Witchblade was no real help about it, he could tell her it was powerful magic, that there were demons present and not much else.

From the right hand, where the gauntlet had formed, the distinctive long sword of the Witchblade formed as Sara jumped into the air to take flight. Some of the floating eye things were above the reach of those on the ground, and they were the target of choice. She managed to slash at one, just one before Witchblade screamed something in her mind that caused her to freeze in midair, just hovering there.

"Why should I give a damn about Red Sonja?" she asked no one in particular, when really it was aimed at Witchblade and spoken aloud to shake herself out of his seeking grasp for control. He always wanted control, always, his rage was never quiet, and in the presence of this many demons, the grasping hands at her willpower were stronger and more demanding than ever. How she managed to keep control was something of a miracle, and yet she did.

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Beholders, as any Dungeons and Dragons player would know them as, appeared to be squishy creatures with numerous hit points, but they also had very unique magical ray attacks from their tentacles. Fire, ice, lightning, but no instant death... maybe the Dungeon Master rolled badly in their creation. It was the numerous hit points that seemed to matter.

As Red Sonja swung her sword toward the first Beholder, numbers and words floated above her head for seconds then disappeared. <15+9, roll for damage, 11+5, good hit! Now roll to save, 12+4, ice damage!>

The tendrils on the right side of the now bleeding Beholder launch a ray attack in return and hit Red Sonja in the stomach, or rather the blast /should/ have hit the stomach but it is the platemail bikini top that ices over briefly instead.

For Sybil, the numbers above her head seem to appear and disappear just as they had for Red Sonja, but a warrior and wizard each disappear from sight. The ranger starts shooting off arrows toward the woman in the sky, more numbers flying above his head and Sybil's, then an arrow aimed at her head literally swerves at the last minute to stick in the bottoms of her metal bikini.

As Mike strides forward and disappears, numbers flicker above his head and he fades out... but not really, well, mostly. Sara, Red Sonja and Sybil can all see the distinctive outline of the man and his movements, but the monsters and "warriors" don't seem to react to him at all.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Going to twist about, Red Sonja goes to skewer her way on through the Beholder. Even as she moves to clash with it, it goes to slam over to her as the ice ray goes to have her stumbling as she almost loses her sword! She holds onto it but is in no place to be able to attack with her main weapon this round!

She goes to counter with the most blunt thing available and hardest thing. Namely her head.

Apparently smashing brutally over into a mass of optical fibers is -really- messy as she goes to head butt it back several inches before going to leap up to try and stab her finger sinto it's eyestalks!

Sybil Tan has posed:
    Sybil blinks as the arrow changes direction to strike the visible part of what could only loosely be called her armor. Shaking her head, she thinks to herself 'Wonderful, we're trapped in some D&D player's nightmare.' This does not slow her down as she fires several more times, removing henchmen from the adventure. It will be interesting to see what she has captured once everything is dealt with in the real world.

    Flying past one of the Displacer Beasts, she lashes out with one foot, but doesn't connect even though she could swear she attacked right where it was. That one may take some work to deal with.

    <<Tan to SHIELD Ops, I need containment and medical sent to Central Park. We have an incident in progress. No agents are authorized to breach the dome as it is currently a one way trip>>

Michael Hannigan has posed:
As it may become apparent as time goes on is that Mike has little knowledge of Dungeons and Dragons. But as he walks quietly, pulling out his equally as disguised sword, an observation occurs.

Whenever a human gets killed, they just...fade away. The hidden man halts, turning his head to consider the sheer number of people. That's quite a lot to be in the park after midnight.

The sword is sheathed once more as he steps back, looking around at the faces. Hmm.

A brow lifts. Well then.

One of these things is not like the others...One of these doesn't belong.

Can he tell which thing is not like the others by the time we finish th-

Sara Pezzini has posed:
For Witchblade the strikes that come toward Sara should be instantly blocked, he should sense them before they even happen and move to armor the place that would be struck... but there is something wrong. The attack of the floating Beholder, a fire ray toward his wielder's head, is diverted toward her chest and strikes the armor there as if it had been aimed to do just that.

Sensing the bewilderment of Witchblade, Sara takes another swing toward the Beholder in front of her, the very one that hit her with a fire ray, and the sword slices through the thing like it's made of butter. The two halves fall back to the earth where the second the land, they disappear into nothingness.

<"Agent Pezzini on scene in Central Park," is said through her SHIELD comm. "Serving as WAND specialist and back up for Agent Tan. This is a unknown magical incident, follow Agent Tan's orders... stay out of the area until further notice!">

================================================================================

With the exception of the Displacer Beasts, when a creature or person is struck more than once, they go down and disappear... no smoke, no sound, no puff of fog, just there one second, gone the next.

The Mindflayers have enjoyed their game of scaring humans to the outer edges of the bubble, but in the end they grew board and finally started attacking. The screams from those being attacked seem louder, as if the sound itself was more real than those in the village being attacked. Another difference, those being attacked by the Mindflayers are actually screaming things like, "Fucking help me!" and "Get the hell away from me!". There is even one, "I want my mother!" out there.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
While Mary Jane had her comm on her and it's tagging her presence by transponder, she's definitely not paying attention now to it no matter how insistentlyit might buzz. She's in the midst of a massacre. She's enjoying this far, far too much as she goes to murder and mutilate! She's rather covered in goo and ichor over by the time she's done with her first enemy, even as she's not -quite- over in total bloodlust.

It's been nearly a minute into the battle and there's no sign of her declared adversary showing up to threaten or monologue, so he's likely not present at all. This has quelled her wrath sufficiently to let Mary Jane have -some- control over things.

At least to tryand redirect her over towards the Mindflayers. She's a good distance away, however, and it will take her at least fifteen to twenty seconds to get there. Much there with the strange icicle-bra she has on.

Sybil Tan has posed:
    Seeing the opponents fading away makes Sybil rethink her strategy. Recalling some of her nerdier years, she looks over at the nearest Mind Flayer and shakes her head. "I hate illusions." That's what she thinks is going on anyway, and it's time to put that conclusion to the test.

    The nearest Mind Flayer is shot with what looks to be a tiny arrow, but which is actually a concussion blast from her cannon. Best not to go lethal until she figures out if the Flayers are actually some form of creature or the actual D&D players caught up in some magical happening.

    <<This is Tan, someone back at base send me the coordinates where the rift is if it's still open.>>

Michael Hannigan has posed:
The screams are sufficient to get Mike moving. While not quite charging into battle, he instead strides towards the center of the town. When one of the Mindflayers comes into reach, he takes his sword and quickly shoves it through the back of one of them, releasing the weapon so it can regain what form of visible existence it needs to be considered legitimately real and legitimately sticking through the torso of the creature.

Continuing on his stride, Mike nears one of the less panicked extras. Their unused sword vanishes from their scabbard.

Rearmed, the musician continues on his trek, drawn towards something.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Starting to hack through the Beholders a little more easily, Sara starts to wonder at just what the hell is going on. Witchblade can still only sense magic and demons, nothing else, but he was starting to mutter that some of the "enemies" weren't anything at all. The information to back that these things were created of nothing was the fact that when they "died", they just disappeared.

"What the fu..." she swings her sword back toward one of the Beholder's and it just... isn't there. Turning in the air a few times, noting what took place, she makes a b-line toward the screams that seems far too real.

================================================================================

What is real, what is imagination, what is dreams... the questions were slowly starting to get a few answers. The Beholders were clearly something based in imagination, and when attacked or 'disbelieved' they simply stopped existing. For Sybil, her decision ends the presence of every Beholder... poof, gone.

The reality if this world seemed to be crumbling, and yet there was still most definitely a presence of power lingering. Even those not magically inclined could feel the something pressing against then like a cold blanket wrapped around their bodies.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
What is the real life? What is fantasy? What is this middle range of things caught in reality? As Sybil Tan calls for SHIELD agents to rally, and Michael goes to save people, and Witchblade goes to trek towards the shambling eyestalks.. Red Sonja is almost disappointed now. She has her fury indulged, her frenzy enabled..

But there's something lacking over to it that's making it not as fun. This is slowly starting the process of Mary Jane having more control back as Sonja is concluding that this cascade of events is not the chance for vengeance nor bloodlust that she had such hopes for. So rage temperd.. Mary Jane charges along towards the remaining monsters, her stride altering.

Sybil Tan has posed:
    With the beholders fading away under the weight of disbelief, she tries it with the whole scene. The scene shimmers as if being viewed through heat haze, but then the belief of the panicking civilians solidifies it again. Apparently it's a matter of numbers. Noting that the Mind Flayers were the only things that didn't shimmer, the case for their being the authors of this particular nightmare, reinforced by the fact that her concussion blast had thrown one of them about ten feet backwards when it hit.

    She highlights the Flayers in her HUD so she can keep track of them. Even the one with a sword though it, though that one is probably dealt with given the amount of.. blood? ichor? Call it what you want, it's forming a puddle around the thing.

Michael Hannigan has posed:
Mike's walkaway is momentarily marred as he gets the general sense of someone turning around, looking back, he sees the run through Mind flayer turning, not quite looking his way but-

Aren't they supposed to fade away like the others?

With the creature not pursuing, Mike takes quicker steps seeking out the source of most of the chaos taking place. Approaching the town hall.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
In total there are five very real Mindflayers tormenting and causing damage to the very real humans that they had been taunting and teasing. In total there are about eight very real humans, who had tried to get out and found themselves bounced off the bubble numerous times until the Flayers began to attack them.

The reality, noted by the Witchblade was that the Mindflayers were very real demons who bled black blood when struck or cut. In all ways they react to damage just like a demon called up from the depths of hell.

"The tentacle faced things are lesser demons," Sara quite literally bellows, hoping her voice will carry to the others. "Holy water, sanctified holy relics, or ton of physical damage is the only way to kill them."

"Enough!" Comes an angry male voice that fills the entire bubble. From the center of the village a massive and terrifying black dragon rises into the air, wings creating strong winds like from a storm or a helicopter. In one of the claws on his upper body he carries what looks like a teenage boy who isn't moving, his body is limp as if lifeless. "You have ruined our game, and now you all die."

The monster in the sky pulls in a deep breathe, and in spite of the fact that black dragons in Dungeons and Dragons don't breath fire, a massive wall of fire erupts from the monsters mouth toward the very real humans, the Mindflayers and any of the heroes that happen to be there as well.

The boss battle has begun.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
A quick charge and slash has Sonja go to engage one o hte Mindflayers. A quick cross-slash oepfully finishs it off. Even for monsters, necks tend to be somewhat weak points if youhit them hard enough.

And -then- there's a big dragon up in the sky. And she goes to grin. And Red Sonja is herself once more. "LOVELY! I haven't gotten a chance to have such a bounty in too long!" Sonja doesn't bother to try and take teh dragon head on. No, that's a very bad idea. It's up in the air and she's going to dive to the side. Fire is in some ways better than what a black dragon might ordinarily use as it's breath weapon.

Literal death.

Sybil Tan has posed:
    Sybil takes a shot at the remaining Mind Flayer in portal mode so that when the bolt hits, a portal swallows it. Given the incoming fire, it might even appreciate being shunted out of the way. Which leaves the fire coming towards her. A second portal opens ahead of her which she flies into, returning to the real world above and behind the dragon. Diving towards it, she aims an adamantium bladed kick at one of it's wings, trying to bring the thing down to the ground by tearing the membrane so that the others can reach it as well.

    Hopefully this works, or else she just pissed off a large dragon.

    At the same time, this is the kind of thing that gets the adrenaline pumping. The moment she clears the wing, she portals to the other side of the dragon. If it's looking where she just attacked from, that's all the better for her.

Michael Hannigan has posed:
As Sara shouts out instructions, Mike carries on with his trek, the phantasm in him has a task already in mind. The bellow from the dragon causes for him to glance up and upon seeing the limp figure being held in the claws of the dragon, he starts running in the direction of the dragon. While the Mindflayers do pose a threat, they are currently grounded and engaged with others proficient enough in combat to keep them at bay.

The appearance of the comparatively tiny figure of Mike running along the ground is likely comical to one of such large stature, flying in the air.

But the comedic portion is quite short as the outline of the person running forward leaps into the air, flipping forward and enlarging. Scales the color of his pale blue eyes with the accent of white belly starts to form and eventually the black dragon is greeted with the visage of a blue one flying at it.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
As the dragon pulls in his breath Sara dives toward the ground to spread her wings wide to protect as many people as she can. The span of the wings is a good twelve feet wide and at least eight feet tall, the metal of Witchblade solid. In that same moment the tendrils of metal wrap around her entire body, taking only seconds to encase her entire form in armor for protection against fire. The flames flow over her like water over stones and then she is in the air again, heading toward the dragon with long sword in hand.

At this point Sara felt she had two choices, and neither were particularly good for her. The first was to engage the dragon right there in the air, sword against claws and teeth, and likely more fire. The problem with this plan was the boy, the risk of harming him or the dragon harming him without meaning to. The second choice was damaging the dragons wings, the membrane between the spines were likely thin and perfect for slicing.

That's about the time that Sybil has the same idea, the blades on her boots tearing through the membrane of the left wing, so Sara goes for the right side. Aiming her sword to slice the membrane she realizes too late that the dragon had gotten wise.

He quite suddenly whips his body around and swings the tail toward the Witchblade, even as his massive maw prepared to bite the blue dragon coming toward him.

Sara has just enough time to adjust her body so that when she is struck, it was not her head or in the chest. The blow lands across her rump and lower back and sends flying toward the edge of the bubble which she bounced off as if she was nothing more than a heavy ball dropped on a trampoline. As if that wasn't enough, dhr then soars toward the ground like dead weight, trying to right herself. It is only the sentient armor, Witchblade himself, that keeps her from striking the ground at full force by spreading his wings.

On the ground, the two remaining Mindflayers head toward Red Sonja. The screams from the other Mindflayers the dragon torched still fresh in their ears, they prepare to crack their whips at the woman.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Red Sonja has no immediate way to engage the dragon, and the Flayers are esmall potatoes. But battle is battle. And this has gone on more than a game should be. Now there's a creature toying with them. "Come, let's send your guts back to your masters." She goes to charge right over at them and moves to just let the two neural whips lash over her. Her body sizzles in frenzy as she goes to simply tank it.

Two strikes later, there are two heads lopped off from bodies. And then she looks at the two heads. Drooling masses of tentacles. And she gets a twisted smile over on her face. She picks up mass by the tentacles.. And starts to twirl them in her hands. Twirling them faster and faster to build up momentum.. Then she releases them over towards the dragon. Her expert throwing of each and her enhanced strength and accuracy meaning that her target and speed is good..

To hopefully have each Illithid head land cleanly launched up through the air to impact and be launched -far- in the dragon's nostrils and get embedded.

Sybil Tan has posed:
    Well, at least the various attacks keep the dragon a bit off-guard. Not quite enough, as Sara's inadvertent flight to the edge of the barrier proves but hopefully it can't keep track of all of them. Seeing Michael gaining altitude towards the enemy dragon Sybil goes into distraction mode, using her portals to pop around in front of the dragon's eyes, then to it's side, then the other eye, etc. As the dragon starts to land due to it's damaged wing membrane, she continues to flash in front of it's eyes, trying to give Mike the best possible opening to attack the enemy dragon.

    She also keeps a track on the young man the dragon is holding. If he's dropped, she'll pop in and grab him and get him away from the black dragon.

Michael Hannigan has posed:
The black dragon's mouth snaps in the direction of the blue counterpart, revealing Mike to be the much more agile of the pair. Reminiscent of his more common avian form, Mike's form shifts, showing a bit too late to the black dragon currently dealing with slippery Sybil's portaling that the expected attack from the blue dragon is more of a misdirect. The wings tuck in and Mike barrel rolls around the attack, nearing the now loosened claw holding the dreamer. It seems like he's just passing by, but as the turn causes for one of the claws to near the black one, it reaches over to snatch away the dreamer.

Prize acquired, Mike's wings flap, giving an added boost to the retreat away from the black dragon. Getting a sense of things about to change, he quickly makes for a landing. Eyes matching the hue of the blue scales look down to the stirring dreamer.

"Pez!" The dragon growls out, looking to the part of the bubble she got launched towards, "You okay?"

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Luckily for Sara, there was no 'dropping her sword', it merely melted back into the armor as she skidded across the ground, wings spread wide to slow her decent and slide. Witchblade's quick reaction was enough to save Sara from being implanted into the ground like a fall meteor, instead her landing creates a deep furrow /through/ one of small houses, and and into another where she comes to a stop.

"That hurt," she groans, taking a moment to breath and assess the damage done. Witchblade was already in heal mode, generating magic to mend the broken ribs. There was dirt and grass caught up in the spikes and groves on the armor, and obviously no way to brush it all off. Picking herself up slowly, she looks the armor over and it slowly shifts and changes to allow the debris fall away. Darting out of the small house, her location far enough from the dragon that she has to lift herself into the sky and start moving that way.

"Couple broken ribs," she calls out, her movements a little slower than they previously were. The sword form in her right hand again as she begins to pick up a little speed, but not enough to get to the dragon before...

As the teenager is pulled from the black dragon's claw, the beast screams... a high pitched, painfully shrill voice the seems to grow louder and louder before the dragon begins to melt. Like a giant ice cube suddenly drop into lava, a massive black puddle spreads out on the ground. The houses and buildings begin to pop out of existence, leaving just the trench formed by Sara's body where the structures once where, along with a broken laptop and a backpack.

The black puddle begins to bubble and slowly absorb into the earth just as the massive bubble pops and the sounds of the world outside suddenly flood in. "It matters little that the dream has ended, I am still free."" a gargling voice says, the accent extremely odd, almost making it impossible to understand... but then there is nothing. No voice, no sound from the place where it had been, and no black puddle.

In Michael's hand the teenager's eyes flutter open to look around at the world , not quite able to focus, as if he just woke from a very long, deep sleep.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
As the wicked wretch of a dragon seems to go to fade over, Red SOnja goes to hold up her less than real blade and goes ot just stare over for a few moments. Her rage-fueled mind goes over to try and process through the vile bits of sorcery as the dragon.. Melts?

She had not heard the discussions of minor demons so she just sees whatever it is seeping, melting away over and leaving but a puddle remained.

SHe adds to that whether or not the puddle has vanished completely yet by picking up a wad of cloth, stuffing it around a random piece of debris, lighting it on fire, then throwing it where the puddle was, and rapidly adding alcohol to it to make sure that the blaze keeps going. No, it might not do much against magic..

But, a serpent was -never- fully dead until one had rended the frame fully apart.

Sybil Tan has posed:
    As the dragon melts away Sybil lands near it, watching the process and Sonja's minor arson, recording it all for the debriefing later. For now, she looks around and watches the medieval scene vanishing from the area and the normal sights of Central Park fading back into view. Best of all, her armor does as well, no worse for being hidden while she was fighting.

    Looking up at Mike, she calls out "If you want to come down, we can take a look at him and see if he's ok. I have medical units on the way for anyone who is hurt." That last bit she's actually saying to anyone in the area who could have been injured by the illusion or it's creator.

    SHIELD agents and medics arrive by quinjet a little before the NYPD shows up and starts cordoning off the crime scene, the SHIELD agents searching the area to see if anything that shouldn't be in the public's hands got left behind. There's enough magical grimoires and the like floating around out there as it is.

Michael Hannigan has posed:
When Sara confirms she's still breathing, the dragon breathes a dragony sigh of relief, ignoring the shrill cries as the demonic dragon from afar has it's 'What a world' moment. Seeing the groggy awakening of the teen he tries to give a reassuring smile.

WHICH IS VERY HARD TO DO IN DRAGON FORM. Right.

"Hey there." Mike the dragon greets the dozy teen, "Don't worry. We got you."

Threats gone save for the parting one, the dragon's size and form starts to melt away, gradually shifting back to safely lower the teen to the ground. "Could you stay there for a bit?" He asks, form becoming more human shaped before eventually revealing Mike. He looks over to Sybil now that he's closer in height to her. Although he's more sitting beside the sleepy Teen. "Just one more thing..."

Clasping his hands togehter, Mike takes a deep breath and tilts his head forward. Voice down to a low murmur, there is a rhythmic cadence to what is being said. To the more attuned to energy, there is the sense of it building between the fingertips that are pressed together, which becomes more notable to the less attuned as he pulls his fingers apart, causing a bit of a stretch of bluish yellow light to stretch between the digits before they hope to one hand. Fingers rolling towards the palm, only the pointer finger of the right finger remains extended as he brings it over to the dreamer's forehead, causing for a jolt of static to travel from his finger to the exposed portion.

Hand lowering, he looks over to Sybil, "That'll... probably give you a couple days to figure things out regarding him."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Officer Sara Pezzini, Agent Pez, whatever title, she was going to have one hell of a report to write when all of this was over. One for the NYPD, and one for SHIELD, and both would be similar, but not exactly the same. Coming back down to the ground by the backpack and broken laptop, she cants her head slightly before looking toward the approaching SHIELD agents, and Agent Sybil Tan.

Internally she was struggling against Witchblade's most base desire, to destroy anything that tainted the balance of the world. <"Tome in the backpack,"> she managed to grunt out before backing away from it. Something of this nature needed to be studied before it was destroyed, especially since the demon appeared to have escaped... but Witchblade, to him it needed to be gone, now, and he was pushing at those internal boundaries very hard.

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The fire burns nicely in the wet grass right up until the alcohol runs out. End of winter, right as spring is peeking, the ground is wet just not squishy... but the thought counts, the point is made.

The humans that had been terrorized and burned are seen to first by the medical teams. One might have thought the burns would be third degree, but the fire was part of the dream, the illusion, and so the demons fire wasn't fully empowered... second degree for some.

The teenager, Walter Thompson, manages to finally blink himself awake and realize that the dream was over. Reality was back in place and there was still a dragon.... a dragon... he starts screaming. The scream fades out slowly as the dragon becomes a man, it was still majorly fricken insane to witness, but it was a man.

"Uh... st...st...stay?" Walter stutters, a clear speech impediment and not from shock or awe. Sitting up slowly, he looks around at all the people, or at least tries to. He squints really hard at everything. "I c..can sta... stay. Wha... what happened?"

He watches Mike closely, every movement, every gestures, because in all honestly Mike was the only thing he could actually see and even then, not all that clearly.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
If there's one thing that's needed for a post fight imbidement, it's intoxicants. And there, as Red Sonja finds as things revert back.. This is just a normal section of New York. Where some sort of event was going on.

There -is- no alcohol. OR even worse, -American- alcohol.

So, no matter the result as SHIELD and WAND agents converge on the area, a highly sober and irritated REd Sonja slides control over to Mary Jane once more. Whom is wearing the threadbare remnants ofw hatever her outfit was, has a massive headache, and is arguing with herself as to why seh can't get drunk now.

Sybil Tan has posed:
    Sybil motions a couple of agents to collect the kid for both a medical exam and then what will most likely be a long series of interviews to try and figure out exactly how all this had happened. There were all too many ways this kind of weirdness could pop up in New York, so they needed to figure out what happened to try and make sure that it couldn't happen again.

    Once he's collected, she turns to Mike and says "Thanks for the help on this. The dragon form is impressive, to say the least. I'm Agent Sybil Tan, SHIELD." She offers a handshake.

    As the young man is led away, she hears his question and replies, "That's exactly what we'd like to find out, so we'll be asking some questions when you feel a little better.

Michael Hannigan has posed:
As the teen acclimates to the changes, Mike remains seated next to him. The shout about a tome followed by the question from the newly awaked dreamer causes for him to frown a bit. "Well..." He states, "I'm not entirely sure. But- I have a feeling the next few days are going to be spent figuring out with these guys." Mike nods to the medics tending to others. It isn't until after the agents collect the kid that Mike starts to get up.

When Sybil comes up he nods to her, taking the offered hand. "Mike Hannigan." He returns. "And thanks. Just don't ask me to do that again."

With SHIELD doing their cleanup stuff and minding the dreamer, the musician takes the opportunity to make his leave.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
With the tome and backpack taken by one of the agents, and the boy being lead off by another, Witchblade's attention turns back to Mary Jane... or as he sees her, Red Sonja. He has no idea how Red Sonja could exist in this era, or how it was she was part of another living being like himself. The sensations from the magic he used didn't all make sense, but one thing remained true... a part of him from the past needed to know the truth.

Because of his curiosity, Sara found herself moving slowly toward Mary Jane and asking the woman, "Are you alright? Were you hurt?" only then does she regain all of her sense to look at Mike and Sybil. "Where either of you hurt? I can offer healing if you were."

If healing was needed, Witchblade and Sara would see to it, other wise once the agents finished clearing the area, she would take to the skies and head for Triskelion... only part of it wasn't there any more, and she wanted to beat the agents back to find out more what happened and maybe be one of the agents to question the kid.

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"But m..mmm...my mom will be h...here to p..pick me up!" Walter protested, but it was really too late for that. He wasn't going to tell these official looking people that he needed to wait for his mother, maybe one of them would call his mother, maybe he wouldn't end up grounded?

Deep within the earth, moving like a giant earthworm, Xelmethazezran was taking his own sweet time and revealing in his freedom. There were so many choices he could make now, so many possible joys and pains and suffering he could cause. Humans were stupid, that remained the same, and now he would enjoy playing with a few to their deaths.